Bunny Unfriendly...

[HerbyBear]

Hello all, I haven't been on here in a while but I am having a lot of issues with my bunny. She is a year and four month old Holland Lop. I do everything for her along with my boyfriend. However, I am the only one that clips her nails and cleans her fur (which she hates of course). I also tend to be the one that taps her head when she poops outside her cage. Since day one, she has been my bunny yet has always been somewhat hostile towards me. I can't grasp it but she is nicer to just about everyone but me. Is there anyway I can fix this relationship? And could there be a reason for this?

Thanks so much.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Is she spayed? Intact does can be a bit more aggressive and territorial. This is usually more around the cage, but can also be in other areas. she could also see you can competition, so it trying to get you to leave. Getting her spayed should help with these behaviours.

 

[HerbyBear]

I should have known that would be the ultimate solution. No, she isn't spayed because I have yet to find a vet near me in New Jersey qualified to do the job at a decent price.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Neutering definitely and spending as much time as possible with her. Also bribery aka treats.

 

[MiniLopHop]

I agree with the nautering. You may also want to stop tapping her head. I know it is annoying if they poop out of the litterbox, but that is also hormonal. She isn't getting the message you are trying to send because it is not in the language of lagamorph. Rabbits don't react well to any sort of physical punishment but tend to get more aggressive.

Once she is spayed the need to mark will decrease substantially. After that, any random scattered poos will just have to be picked up and put back into the box or thrown away. They will be much less frequent and easy to clean up so I don't see it as a big deal if there is a stray once in a while.

 

[Mittensbunny]

The problem with my bunny is she is always grumpy no matter what i do. She is spayed now and that seemed to help a bit but she still has an attitude. Is there something i can do to make her happier?:?

 

[MiniLopHop]

HerbyBear wrote:

I should have known that would be the ultimate solution. No, she isn't spayed because I have yet to find a vet near me in New Jersey qualified to do the job at a decent price.

It looks like this was posted this morning, was she just spayed today? If so, give her a few weeks. At the moment she probably is hurting and hates everyone.

 

[Mittensbunny]

no, she was spayed about a year ago.

 

[MiniLopHop]

Sorry, I just realized there are two differnt rabbits getting talked about.

Neutering is the first step. Since her hormones are obviously not an issue, can you please tell us more?

cage set up, running around time, how often and how you interact, what specificallyis she doing that you interpret as grumpy?, etc. With more specifics it's easier to figure out how to help

 

[Mittensbunny]

She has a mid sized cage, with fresh water, food and lots of hay available at all times. She runs around our house for about 2-3 hours a day. Within that time I try to interact with her. She expresses her grumpyness by growling, digging at the carpet and trying to bite people. She has never biten me but she has biten a lot of other people.